SINGAPORE: Families with children eligible for the enhanced Baby Bonus announced during Budget 2023 will receive these benefits from Aug 1, several months earlier than the initial implementation timeline in early 2024.
The enhanced benefits are for eligible Singaporean children born on or after Feb 14, 2023.
They will receive more money as part of the Baby Bonus Cash Gift, with a longer pay-out period, as well as increased government contributions in their Child Development Accounts (CDA).
“Agencies have successfully expedited the legislation and system updates necessary to bring forward the implementation timeline to Aug 1, 2023,” said the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) in a media release on Friday (Jul 28).
In his Budget speech on Feb 14, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced that the Baby Bonus Cash Gift would be increased by S$3,000 for eligible Singaporean children born from that date.
The payout schedule would also be adjusted to provide financial support regularly every six months until the child turns six-and-a-half years old, he said.
The CDA First Step Grant, meanwhile, would be increased from S$3,000 to S$5,000, he said.
The government would also raise its co-matching cap by S$1,000 for the first and second child. As part of the Baby Bonus Scheme, the government matches parents’ savings in their child’s CDA dollar-for-dollar, up to a certain amount.
With the adjustments, parents of babies born from Feb 14 this year will receive Baby Bonus Cash Gifts of S$11,000 each for their first and second children, and S$13,000 each for their third and subsequent children.
Children are eligible for the Baby Bonus Cash Gift if they are Singapore citizens and their parents are lawfully married.